On Certain Elements of the Morphology of Polish Sign Language: Borrowings (Part 2)

Similarly to phonic languages, Polish Sign Language (Polski Jezyk Migowy - PJM) also contains certain signs which are taken from foreign languages. Since PJM as a cultural quality which is unique for the society of the deaf, remains in touch with Polish language of people who can hear, it tends to take over foreign elements from that language. There are three types of borrowings distinguished in the article: dactylographic and translational borrowings as well as initiated signs. The article describes ways of lexicalization in borrowing some lexical units from Polish language according to phonological and morphological rules in PJM. The paper also analyses sign borrowings as foreign signs taken over from another sign language based on gesture-visual modality.